Mobile positioning technology has advanced substantially over the past decade. Many cars, trucks, airplanes, boats, and other vehicles are equipped with devices that provide convenient and reliable mobile positioning using either networks of satellite-based and land-based transceivers or an on-board positioning sensor, such as an inertial navigation system or a dead reckoning system.
Many users of mobile positioning systems, particularly those operating commercial vehicles, also require an accurate determination of tax assessed by one or more taxing regions through which the vehicles travel. Previously, tax determinations were based upon manual reporting and charting of vehicle positions, or recreation of the miles traveled in taxing regions after a trip. For example, one way to determine tax for a vehicle is to estimate the number of miles traveled by the vehicle based upon a corresponding distance taken along a preferred route on a map. This approach, however, may not be suitable for particular applications that require more accuracy in the determination of tax. Consequently, a need has arisen for an apparatus and method that accurately determines tax of a vehicle. Furthermore, operators of commercial vehicles may also require a way of reporting this tax to a remote location. For example, a cellular telephone in a vehicle offers a convenient communications link to report a determined tax.